THE ROARING TWENTIES

REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT Major Goal: Help business & industry operate with maximum efficiency and productivity. trickle-down economics limited government regulation of economy. businessmen should run government against government help to needy hostile towards unions

WARREN G. HARDING 1921- 1923 Return to “normalcy” “I am a man of limited talents from a small town” Delegated much of his responsibility to subordinates and friends. Teapot Dome Scandal – Sec. of Interior Albert Fall accepted bribes from businessmen to lease public land with oil reserves. Died in August 1923 – largely unaware of corruption.

CALVIN COOLIDGE 1923-1929 “business of America is business” Least active president in history (Silent Cal) Proposed no new legislation Opposed laws to help farmers, blacks, elderly, and immigrants Didn’t address looming economic problems Popular, but chose not to run for reelection

HERBERT HOOVER 1929-1933 More progressive than predecessors Called for volunteerism, civil liberties, conservation, rights for Native Americans “chicken in every pot, car in every garage” Takes blame for Depression even though signs were beginning to surface during Coolidge’s administration.

POLITICAL PHILOSOPHIES Radical – advocates drastic revolutionary changes in society and government. Socialist/Communist Conservative – refers to preserving existing order; conserving rather than changing. Pro-business Liberal – advocates changes in society’s institutions that reflect changing conditions. Progressive movement

THE RED SCARE Fear of Communism (Bolshevism) grew in U.S. as a result of the Russian Revolution, and numerous labor strikes. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer establishes special office under J. Edgar Hoover to gather information on radicals. Palmer ordered mass arrests of anarchists, Socialists, and labor agitators. 6,000 people were arrested in 3 months. Very little evidence of criminal activity was found against accused.

LABOR UNREST Seattle General Strike (1919) Most famous general strike in U.S. history. 35,000 shipyard workers went on strike after they failed to get a wage increase. All unions demanded higher pay for shipyard workers. Seattle mayor called for federal troops.

LABOR UNREST Boston Police Strike (1919) 70% of Boston’s policemen went on strike. Sought wage increases & right to unionize Gov. Calvin Coolidge called National Guard. Most frightening strike in minds of many Americans Police went on strike in 37 other cities. Police fired

LABOR UNREST Steel Strike (1919) AFL attempted to organize steel industry. Major shift – now attempting to organize unskilled labor by industry. Nearly half of nation’s steel workers worked for (US Steel) After violence & use of federal and state troops – strike broken. Failure of strike marked hardening of Americans on labor matters.

FEAR OF FOREIGNERS More than 800,000 immigrants came to America between 1920- 1921. 2/3 coming from southern and eastern Europe (New) There is a push to preserve northern European racial composition of America. Quotas set to restrict immigration in series of acts. National Origin Act of 1924 cut immigration to 2% of each nationality from 1890 census.

SACCO & VANZETTI 2 Italian anarchists Executed in 1927 for murder despite protests from within and outside the U.S. Anti-immigration attitudes prejudiced their trial.

RISE OF THE KU KLUX KLAN Reconstituted partly after success of movie Birth of a Nation. New KKK more anti-foreign than anti-black. Targets: foreigners, Jews, Catholics, pacifists, communists, evolutionists, blacks. Strength was in Midwest and South By 1925 Five million members had joined to march in parades, burn crosses, & hold secret meetings. Movement lost strength, leaders were unable to achieve promises.

1920’S BELIEFS “Old” Culture “New” Culture Emphasized production Emphasized consumption Character Personality Scarcity Abundance Religion Science Idealized past Looked to future Local culture Mass culture Substance Image

MOVEMENTS IN THE 1920s Prohibition 18th Amendment Outlawed the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors Saloons replaced by illegal “speakeasies” Homemade alcohol (bathtub gin) sometimes resulted in blindness & death.

ORGANIZED CRIME Met consumer demands for alcohol. Chicago gangster Al Capone controlled bootlegging (smuggling) trade. Made over $60 million in one year. Over 500 murders in Chicago in 1920s. Gangsters used profits from Prohibition to move into prostitution, gambling, and narcotics sales.

PROBLEMS WITH ENFORCEMENT Majority of people were hostile to it. Lack of enforcement officials. Alcohol could be sold by doctor’s prescription. Necessary for industrial uses. Could be used in religious ceremonies. Could be manufactured in small amounts almost anywhere. 21st Amendment repeals 18th Amendment.

HOW DID WE GET HERE? Fundamentalists Modernists Stressed literal biblical interpretation. Opposed scientific teaching. God created man. Modernists Mainly urban and better educated Attempted to adapt religion to teachings of modern science and the changing world.

A NEW THEORY Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution Origins of Species Suggested that over time many species had become extinct & new ones emerged through natural selection. Theory claimed that humans were descended from monkeys. 1925 – TN outlaws teaching theory of evolution in public schools.

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION ACLU founded in 1920. Dedicated to promoting the Bill of Rights. Places ad in newspaper offering to defend any teacher who tests the law.

SCOPES TRIAL 1925 – Dayton, TN John Scopes purposely violated law forbidding teaching of evolution. William Jennings Bryan led prosecution, while Clarence Darrow defended Scopes. Scopes found guilty (conviction later overturned) Darrow’s cross-examination of Bryan exposed narrowness of fundamentalist position.

THE AUTOMOBILE 1913: 1.2 million cars 1929: 26.5 million cars The automobile changed the pattern of American life. Replaced railroad industry as key promoter of economic growth. Other industries: steel, glass, rubber, gasoline, highway construction grew with auto industry. Traveling for pleasure, commuting to work.

ENTERTAINMENT Radios Movies First commercial radio station broadcasts music to few thousand listeners in 1920. By 1930 800 radio stations were broadcasting to 10 million radios (1/3 of all U.S. homes). Movies Centered in Hollywood. By 1929 80 million movie tickets sold each week.

ENTERTAINMENT Jazz Harlem Renaissance Music brought to northern cities by African Americans in the 1920s Radios made it possible for millions of people to hear this new music. The 1920s is also known as the “Jazz Age” Harlem Renaissance Largest African-American population 200,000. Became famous for its concentration of talented actors, artists, musicians, and writers. Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Paul Robeson.

CONSUMERISM Many new appliances made people’s lives easier. Refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, washing machines, automobiles. Product ads appearing in magazines, on billboards, & on the radio tried to convince Americans to buy more. Installment Plans allowed people to “buy now, pay later”.

GENDER ROLES Many factors contributed to a new lifestyle for women in the 1920s. Labor saving devices at home. Sigmund Freud (Austrian psychiatrist) stresses role of sexual repression in mental illness. Margaret Sanger advocates use of birth control devices. Women voters demand changes to divorce laws. More women going to college. Sense of independence led to “flapper” look.